Treasury Wines 1H26 EBITS had been pre-announced. The new news included a suspension of dividend payments given high gearing and clarity on its volume performance. The actions from new CEO Sam Fischer highlight a need to fix the supply-demand balance across its key markets and reduce debt. Depletions growth in Penfolds still looks encouraging. However, destocking over the next two years will result in a lack of any apparent earnings recovery.  The future growth of Penfolds is not appropriately reflected in the share price and long-term earnings upside exists once the destocking is complete.

Treasury Wines’ new CEO Sam Fischer provided an update that resets the company’s inventory position in its key Chinese and US markets. The disclosure confirms concerns that distributors hold too much inventory. The underlying earnings of Treasury Wines has been overstated in FY24/FY25 and will be understated in FY26e/FY27e. The company will need to rebuild trust and transparency with investors in order to achieve a higher multiple.

The downgrade by Treasury Wines to its FY26e outlook will raise questions about the path for Penfolds, quality of Americas earnings and changes that pending CEO Sam Fischer may implement. The drop in Penfolds growth is understandable given “crackdowns” by the Chinese government on official banqueting. The deeper concern is the reset in Americas luxury margins where the contribution outside DAOU looks small.

Treasury Wines FY25 result highlighted the divergent performance across its divisions. Penfolds had 17% EBITS growth and still has a good runway for growth, while the Americas was carried by DAOU acquisition synergies. Americas underlying EBITS and Treasury Premium Brands both declined. The company clearly believes its shares are under-valued with a $200 million buyback confirmed. The more interesting debate that could build is whether Treasury will consider a break-up. We value Penfolds at $7.52 per share, providing an underpinning for valuation.

Treasury Wines updated segment disclosure and perspectives on FY26e should provide relief that earnings will still grow in FY26e and the Board sees its shares as under-valued. The new segmentation shines a very bright light on the appeal of luxury wines and the challenge in commercial wines. Luxury wines accounts for 23% of Treasury’s volume and 86% of the group’s earnings. While the outlook for FY26e has been tempered a little, there are downside risks in Chinese demand and US distribution changes in our view.